The "Wow wear" (I think I got the name right) and the Talent competitions were pretty cute, but the "Beauty" part, they looked like china dolls, it was hard to believe there was a living, breathing child behind all that foundation, spray tan, mascara, lipstick... actually I think those 4-year-olds were wearing more make-up than I've worn in my life put together... and I'm not exaggerating at all.
But fine, they are little girls and little girls DO like to dress up. I'm sure a lot of them enjoyed themselves and it didn't even bother me that the mum's pushed them to practice when they didn't always want to. (I mean, doesn't every Olympic athlete grow up to say "And thanks to my mum who always pushed me, even when I didn't want to practise all the time, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have made it... I love you, Mum!" just before he/she draps his medal over his parents neck.)
What did bother me was that a little girl got 2nd place without competing in the talent portion. I checked some forums and found out that you just need Beauty to win overall, the other categories are just for little trophies. That's right, a good lesson for kids to learn: Talent is important, but being pretty is more important.
What else bothered me? How about that this said 2nd place finisher had a twin sister who finished 3rd. (Okay so, that's not too bad) But the little girl in third "AshLynn Sterling" (and yes the "L" is capitalized for some reason) was made to believe she wasn't as "good" as her twin. No, not from those running the show, but from her own mother.
Okay, I'd like to believe some editing was involved but there are some things that can't be overlooked. Her mother actually said that the other twin BreAnne (again, yes a random capital in the name) was prettier, and more talented, and more full of life, and well, "more like me". AshLynn she said was "just AshLynn". (Actually, the girls looked a lot alike, though I personally thought AshLynn was the cuter, but then again, I don't think all the make-up looks "pretty" on little kids either so maybe I just have odd taste.)
Then she made AshLynn wear a ripped dress and bought a nice new $2000 dollar dress for BreAnne (And no, I'm not adding extra zero's to that figure.) She told AshLynn she'd sew the old ripped dress, but she didn't. AshLynn was a great sport about it, though she did shed a few sad quiet tears about it when she first found out her dress was torn, but she did not whine or through a tantrum or anything like that.
BreAnne did throw a tantrum though, and talked badly about her sister and whined and complained and the who she-bang (but who can blame her, she's a spoiled favourite-child, six-year-old), until her Dad finally pulled her out of the talent portion of the competition. (Which is why I was suprised to see her place 2nd)
Okay so maybe favouritism was supposed to be a "tv selling point?" Hmm, the ripped dress was real though, the sad look in AshLynn's eyes as she tried sooo hard to get some attention was real, and what child wants to grow up and learn that their mother said their sister was the "pretty, talented" one on tv just to make enough money to get said sister another new dress.
AshLynn was however told she was the director's favourite and she was so proud of herself saying "I can't stop smiling!" Then she graciously offered her balloons to another younger sister (There are actually 5 girls in the family. But at the end BreAnne told AshLynn that "Mum says I was the winner though" or something like that, to which AshLynn quietly sheds a few more tears and pushes away BreAnne's hug. I'm probably not the only one who wanted to adopt that little girl.
